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Lecture 10

Lecture 10. Eugenics and Genetics: Excitements (Philosophical Perspectives). “ The 21 st century will be the Century of Biology, just as the 20 th Century is the Century of Physics”. 1953. J. Watson Feb 22, 2003. J. Watson and F. Crick, Feb 1953. Louise Brown, born July 25,1978.

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Lecture 10

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  1. Lecture 10 Eugenics and Genetics: Excitements (Philosophical Perspectives)

  2. “The 21st century will be the Century of Biology, just as the 20th Century is the Century of Physics”

  3. 1953

  4. J. Watson Feb 22, 2003 J. Watson and F. Crick, Feb 1953

  5. Louise Brown, born July 25,1978 the first baby to be conceived outside its mother's womb 2003 1978

  6. Born: 1996

  7. Dead: 2003

  8. Completed 2003

  9. Human Cloning – blastocyst stage • February 2004, South Korea • 30 embryos have grown for about 6 days, containing about 100 cells • Dr. Woo Suk Hwang, Dr. Shin Yong Moon National Seoul University

  10. (II) Eugenics before Genetics • Francis Galton (1822-1911) • improving future generations by encouraging the "best" in society to have more children

  11. (p.2) • “negative eugenics” –to prevent the birth of people with “poor” conditions (the “unfit”) • “positive eugenics” – to create “better” humans (the “fit”)

  12. Negative Eugenics viaCompulsory sterilization • by the late 1920s, similar laws had been passed in 28 states of U.S.A. • 15,000 individuals were sterilized before 1930 • Many European countries did the same • Nazi Germany • improving future generations by eliminating the socially “unfit”

  13. An Infamous CaseBuck v. Bell (1927) • “The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes…. Three generations of imbeciles are enough.” • U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1927.

  14. Positive Eugenics viaDirected Mating in vitro (p.3) • “Genius sperm banks”– Nobel prize winners • Ivy league eggs wanted (1999) – SAT minimum score 1400, athletic ability, height of at least 5’10” • US$50,000 (HK$400,000) • Yale-New Haven Hospital: only US$5,000

  15. Drawback • unreliable because of the lottery of chance inherent in all sexual reproduction • unreliable because traits are not determined by heredity alone • most couples would rather have “their own” children.

  16. Eugenic utopianism renewed

  17. (p.4)

  18. “Today we are learning the language in which God created life…. With this profound new knowledge, human kind is on the verge of gaining immense new power to heal….” President Bill Clinton The New York Times, June 27, 2000, D8.

  19. Watch video • How to Build a Human? (BBC) • Episode 2 “The Predictor”

  20. “Further, it will not be amiss to distinguish the three kinds….of ambition in mankind…. But if a man endeavor to establish and extend the power and dominion of the human race itself over the universe, his ambition (if ambition it can be called) is without doubt both a more wholesome and a more noble thing than the other two. Now the empire of man over things depends wholly on the arts and sciences. For we cannot command nature except by obeying her.” p.4(Francis Bacon, Novum Organum, CXXIX)

  21. The Power over Nature The Mastery of Nature

  22. “Today we are learning the language in which God created life….With this profound new knowledge, human kind is on the verge of gaining immense new power to heal….” President Bill Clinton Not just the Power to heal !!

  23. Application One Gene Therapy

  24. Gene Therapy A technique for correcting defective genes responsible for disease development.

  25. How does gene therapy work? • In most gene therapy studies, a "normal" gene is inserted into the genome to replace an "abnormal," disease-causing gene. • A carrier molecule called a vector must be used to deliver the therapeutic gene to the patient's target cells. • Currently, the most common vector is a virus that has been genetically altered to carry normal human DNA.

  26. Target cells such as the patient's liver or lung cells are infected with the viral vector. The vector then unloads its genetic material containing the therapeutic human gene into the target cell. The generation of a functional protein product from the therapeutic gene restores the target cell to a normal state.

  27. Setback • In 1999, gene therapy suffered a major setback with the death of 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger. • Jesse was participating in a gene therapy trial for ornithine transcarboxylase deficiency (OTCD). • He died from multiple organ failures 4 days after starting the treatment. • His death is believed to have been triggered by a severe immune response to the adenovirus carrier.

  28. Ethical Issues (p.5) • What is normal and what is a disability or disorder, and who decides? • Are disabilities diseases? Do they need to be cured or prevented? • Does searching for a cure demean the lives of individuals presently affected by disabilities? • Is somatic gene therapy more or less ethical than germline gene therapy?

  29. Application Two Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis & Selection

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